Theranos Has Listed Its Headquarters for Rent
Four floors of the Palo Alto, Calif., office building are available for 12-year leases.
By Lydia Belanger •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Embattled blood-testing startup Theranos has listed its Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters for rent.
Real estate company CBRE posted a listing on the marketplace LoopNet in mid-June, dividing the 116,172-square-foot office building into four listings by floor. The subleases extend through August 2029, and rates are negotiable, according to the listing.
Related: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Theranos's Fall From Grace
On July 11, Twitter user @HarryBeanBag2 tweeted the listing, mentioning @JohnCarreyrou, the Wall Street Journal reporter who launched the investigation into the validity of the company's claims in October 2015.
Theranos headquarters for lease! https://t.co/ulBxA3T2x9 @JohnCarreyrou @herbgreenberg @CGrantWSJ @theranos
— Harry BeanBag (@HarryBeanBag2) July 11, 2017
Carreyrou followed with a tweet of his own -- and a prediction.
Theranos building in Palo Alto for lease. How long before a bankruptcy filing? https://t.co/8yMdXFj1LU
— John Carreyrou (@JohnCarreyrou) July 11, 2017
"Theranos continues to focus on effectively managing our resources as we progress towards the commercialization of the miniLab platform. Accordingly, the Company has retained CBRE to explore subleasing options for all or portions of our Palo Alto facility," the company said in a statement to Business Insider. "Manufacturing will continue to be located in the Newark, CA facility." A spokesperson also said that the company's Palo Alto employees would likely relocate to the Newark location if Theranos were to sublease the entire building.
Over the past two years, Theranos, a company previously valued at $9 billion, has faced scrutiny, shutdowns and lawsuits. The October 2015 Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that Theranos was using its proprietary Edison technology to conduct only a fraction of the blood tests it had claimed and outsourcing the rest of its test processing. Meanwhile, accounts of faulty test results surfaced, as did the news that Theranos was operating below health, safety and scientific standards.
Last summer, the federal government shut down one of Theranos's labs and banned founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes from owning or operating a clinical lab for two years. Theranos shut down all of its labs and its Wellness Centers located in Walgreens stores, as well as laid off 340 workers. The company also had to pay $30,000 in fines for failing to comply with federal regulations.
Related: Theranos: The House of Cards That Elizabeth Holmes Built
In March, Theranos offered shares to investors in exchanges for promises not to sue. In May, it settled lawsuits with Partner Fund Management, a hedge fund that invested $96.1 million in the company.
The state of Arizona sued the company for fraud. Theranos will pay $4.65 to refund every test it sold in the state, even if it subsequently corrected any results. The company will also pay $225,000 to cover civil penalties and attorneys' fees, the Associated Press reported in April.
As of three weeks ago, a breach of contract lawsuit by Walgreens was also nearly settled, the Wall Street Journal reported.
